Up the Ramp to Full Access

A decade after it was adopted into law, the Americans With Disabilities Act has left its mark in ways large and small on nearly every new building in the nation.

Doorknobs have all but disappeared, replaced with easier-to-use handles. Sinks and light switches are lower on the wall.

But perhaps the biggest and most visible change has been at the front door, where ramps--once relegated to the lowly loading dock--are now a permanent fixture.

The presence of ramps everywhere from restaurants to sports stadiums is symbolic of the far-reaching impact the ADA has had in shaping the look and use of American buildings.

“It’s an amazing thing to watch non-disabled people use the ramp instead of steps when given that option,” said Kevin McGuire, a consultant who advises architects on accessible design. “Some architects will say, ‘Screw the steps. We will just do the ramp.’ ”

The ADA, signed into law 10 years ago in July, goes way beyond making buildings accessible to the disabled.

It is a broad piece of civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination against the disabled in employment, transportation, public accommodations and other areas. More than 40 million Americans are covered under provisions of the ADA.

The law, which was opposed by some business groups for being too costly and vague, has resulted in countless lawsuits involving business owners and architects accused of violating it.

Earlier this year, for example, the AMC movie theater chain was sued by the Justice Department for allegedly failing to provide adequate seating for wheelchair users in its new stadium-style movie houses.

Despite the controversy, the ramp and other changes triggered by the ADA are now considered by many as simply standard building fixtures.

“It’s like you know you need to have windows and you have to have doors,” said Ron Turner of NBBJ Architects of Los Angeles, which designed Staples Center and other stadium projects. “We think about it from the very beginning.”

Architects have transformed the ramp into a stylish design feature in some settings.

At Dodger Stadium, visitors to the new Dugout Club make a grand entrance via Turner’s 60-foot-long ramp that flows past a display of team memorabilia and into the main seating area.

“The ramp was a response to the ADA and design issues,” said Tim Carey of Catellus Development Corp., which managed the stadium renovation. “It worked out nicely.”

In Palm Desert, the design of a new outdoor shopping center became less formal and more relaxed as the architects wove in a network of gently sloping ramps and pathways to allow the disabled to navigate a change in elevation of nearly two stories over the block-wide complex.

“They are everywhere . . . built to fit into the terrain,” said Los Angeles architect Ronald Altoon of the ramps at the Gardens of El Paseo. The ADA guidelines have forced architects to create buildings “more sensitive to the geography that surrounds them,” he said.

A utilitarian ramp can be transformed into a design feature, but its true value remains as a no-nonsense tool to provide access to the disabled and the nation’s growing elderly population, say disabled rights advocates.

“A little 4-inch curb can be like a mountain,” said Laura Mitchell, 55, a public policy analyst who rides a three-wheel motorized cart. “We want to have access to the same things as everybody else does.”

In addition to providing ramps that meet minimum standards for width, pitch and resting areas, architects and property owners are under pressure to design building entrances that permit the disabled to share in the sense of arrival.

Often, ramps or mechanical lifts are placed to the side of the main entrance or in the rear of the building, an arrangement that many disabled people say leaves them feeling like second-class citizens.

“That’s like being put in the back of the bus,” said Eve Hill, executive director of the Western Law Center for Disability Rights in Los Angeles. “It is important to have the ramp be a regular way into the building instead of having to go all the way to the side or the back.”

Ramps, however, do have drawbacks. They can eat up tremendous amounts of space--particularly in costly public areas--compared with stairs that cover the same elevation.

In some cases, a ramp can occupy as much as eight times more space than a stairway, according to Altoon.

“Because ramps take much more space . . . the entire project becomes more costly,” he said.

In addition, some ramps--particularly at sports stadiums--can become forbiddingly long and tiring for those in a manual wheelchair or for the elderly, McGuire said. Some stadiums provide motorized carts to transport the disabled up multistoried ramps.

“You could be wheeling half a mile,” said McGuire, who himself uses a wheelchair. “It’s a workout.”

Still, McGuire and others prefer ramps to mechanical devices--such as lifts and elevators--that can break down and leave the disabled stranded.

At the massive Hollywood and Highland project under construction in Los Angeles, the challenge was to allow the disabled to participate “in the grandeur” of a 60-foot-wide staircase that will lead up into the retail, restaurant and hotel development from Hollywood Boulevard, said project architect Vaughn Davies.

Ramps, however, would occupy too much space at the $300-million development. Instead, visitors who need to avoid the stairs will take an elevator to a balcony that runs along the entire length of the stairway.

“It traces the route of the stairway, so you don’t miss the procession of people,” said Davies, who is with the Los Angeles office of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn. “It became an opportunity for a people-watching experience.”

The biggest complaints about ramps involve pre-ADA buildings that have been retrofitted.

Government offices, buildings that are open to the public--such as restaurants and hotels--and structures that have undergone significant renovations are often required to comply with ADA access rules.

But some of the ramps added to these structures are poorly designed by today’s standards, design experts say.

McGuire recalls entering a St. Louis hotel on a narrow ramp enclosed with high walls that obstructed the view of a person in a wheelchair. Making matters worse, the ramp was used by bellhops running up and down with large pieces of luggage.

“If someone was coming, I couldn’t see them until I was around the corner,” McGuire said. “That ramp was an afterthought.”

Sherman Oaks attorney David Geffen said poor signage often leaves him hunting for ramps.

“You don’t know if it’s around the block or through the garage,” said Geffen, who uses a wheelchair. “It’s really frustrating.”

However, Geffen said he is now more likely to take for granted that there will be a ramp, a lift or an elevator that will allow him to enter a building. That was not the case before the ADA was adopted.

“It’s a lot easier,” Geffen said. “If I’m meeting at another lawyer’s office, I assume I will have complete access. Ten years ago, I could not have been assured of that.”

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Designed for Living

Ten years ago the Americans With Disabilities Act mandated design changes in new and some existing public buildings to allow people with physical disabilities, including hearing and visual impairment, to navigate more easily. Some of the changes, which often benefit the able-bodied as well:

Sources: U.S. Access Board, Times research

Researched by NONA YATES / Los Angeles Times